March 24, 2003

March 24, 2003

A new device being tested at the Office of Naval Research promises simultaneous machine translation and interpretation, using a blend of voice recognition, speech synthesis and translation technologies.

March 24, 2003

Webcams, tracking devices, and interlinked databases are leading to the elimination of unmonitored public space. Are we prepared for the consequences of the intelligence- gathering network we’re unintentionally building?

March 24, 2003

Delicate threads of spider’s silk are about to solve a major problem in photonics: how to make hollow optical fibres narrow enough — just two nanometers wide — to carry light beams around the fastest nanoscale optical circuits.

They will also make for a new breed of sensors that can detect single molecules of a particular chemical.

March 24, 2003

A molecular Trojan horse that can slip past the brain’s defences has proved to be very effective at delivering genes, drugs and other compounds to the brains of primates. It could be used to treat a host of brain disorders, from Parkinson’s to epilepsy.

March 24, 2003

Human eye movements to scroll a computer screen up and down, a camera that periodically scans a scene in front of you and turns images into sounds, automatic media interpretation to assist users in searching for specific scenes and shots, and a system that can detect suspicious pedestrian behavior in parking lots are examples of new computer-vision systems.

March 24, 2003

Symbiosis has played an important role in the evolution of complex life-forms than natural selection, argues Frank Ryan in a controversial book, Darwin’s Blind Spot: Evolution Beyond Natural Selection.

March 17, 2003

“A new ink changes colour at the flick of a switch. It could give rise to newspapers that show shifting images, or chemical sensors that display different hues depending on what substance they detect.”

March 17, 2003

ARGs or Alternate Reality Games are immersive experiences that mix real world clues, phone calls, voicemail, email chatterbots, real people playing roles in real life and bogus and legit websites. The objective: a fully rounded gaming experience that bleeds over into everyday life. They could also have real-world applications like group dynamics and problem solving.